Smith hits milestones as Lady Knights climb to eight

BRYAN YARCE

JAHIRA SMITH

Posted
Sunday, January 13, 2013 1:00 pm

The CCRI women’s basketball team rose to No. 8 in the NJCAA Division II poll on the heels of a dominant 114-50 victory over Nassau Community College. The victory also marked a big day for sophomore star Jahira Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y.), who continues to leave fingerprints all over the record books.

Smith had five assists to become the program’s all-time career assist leader with 278. She passed Nicole Girard, who was first with 274 assists. Smith also swiped a single-game record 13 steals, which upped her already record-breaking career total to 222. For good measure, Smith scored 23 points to move into the No. 7 spot on the CCRI all-time scoring list with 850 career points.

“Jahira is a very special athlete and young lady,” said CCRI head coach Kate Lynch. “She is rewriting the record books at CCRI, but that is the last thing on her mind. She is an extremely unselfish player. ‘Jah’ is the type of player who would rather win ball games and have the team become successful. She is an amazing athlete and I am so proud of her. She has worked tirelessly over the last year and a half both on and off the court. I am truly happy that she is finally getting the recognition that she so well deserves.”

Also having big games for CCRI were Lexi Barros (New Bedford, Mass.), who scored 21 points with six steals and six assists, and Nyjah Porcher (New Britain, Conn.), who tallied 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. Ahnyyah Jackson (Hackensack, N.J.) added 16 points and six steals, while Treedy Ward (Boynton Beach, Fla.) chipped in 15 points.

“We came ready to play today,” Lynch said. “Our energy level and effort level was very consistent from everyone. We were very unselfish with the basketball today and when we are as unselfish as we were, we are fun to watch.”

More records fall on busy indoor track weekend

The CCRI indoor track team pulled double duty on Saturday as some members went to Boston University to compete in the BU Terrier Invitational and some went to Wesleyan to compete in their fourth seasonal meet.

At the Terrier Invitational in Boston, Steven Vazquez (Central Falls) won the high jump with a tremendous CCRI record leap of 2.05 meters. This broke his previous CCRI record of 2.03m and came at a highly-competitive invitational that featured many Division I, II, and III NCAA teams from all over the Northeast and beyond.

Also in Boston, Bobby Allen (Cranston) placed 15th in the mile run with a CCRI record time of 4:06.62, securing his No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA performance list in the mile run. Allen won his heat wire-to-wire and one might wonder how well he would have done if he were in the first finals heat, which was run at a blistering pace. In the first heat, 10,000 meter Olympic Silver Medalist Galen Rupp ran a 3:50.59, the fifth fastest mile ever.

Also making the trip to Boston was Daniel Duquette (North Attleboro, Mass.), who reset his own CCRI record in the 800m with a time of 1:59.85.

The rest of the CCRI squad was at the Wesleyan Invite. Leading the way there was David Palkovic (Middletown), who placed second in the 5,000. with a career-best time of 16 minutes, 54.42 seconds. Jordan Barbosa (Warwick) placed fourth in the high jump with a 1.77m leap and came back to place four in the 200m and in the 60m hurdles. Ryan Rotondo (Cranston) finished fourth in the 60m dash.

For the Lady Knights, Olivia Emerick (Cranston) placed seventh in the 800m with a season-best time of 2:45.61 and also placed eighth in the 200m dash with a time of 30.50. Rounding out the CCRI athletes at Wesleyan was Meagan Shanley (Warwick), who placed seventh in the 600m with a time of 2:42.76.

Knights succumb to Suffolk 77-62

the CCRI Knights men’s basketball team hosted the Sharks of Suffolk County Community college from Selden, N.Y. on Sunday. The Knights lost to the Sharks 77-62. With the loss the Knights fall to 15-9 on the season.

After playing some of their best basketball over the past few weeks, the Knights had a game they want to put behind them quickly. After CCRI took a five-point lead around the 10-minute mark, Suffolk battled back to regain the lead and then extended it to 15 by halftime. The Knights battled back in the second half, thanks in large part to Bryan Yarce (Cranston), who was a disruptive force on defense and helped the Knights cut the Sharks’ lead to just six points with about six minutes left in the game. From there, Suffolk was able to regroup to extend its lead back to double-digits and the Knights had no answer.